Updates on Buck's life with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cancer

Bottoms Up!

5-21-2014 – Yeah, I know it’s been a while since my last update (about 3.5 months), but there really hasn’t been anything new to add. I take my Imbruvica every day, and keep living life, so it’s been all good.

I do seem to have a few little side effects from the Imbruvica, which I’d discussed with the doctors doing the study before, so they’re no surprise, and not a big deal at all. It does seem to make me a bit less energetic than I used to be, a bit more tired, but not too much. And I do get some little pimple-type sores from time to time. I’ve had them on the back of my neck and shoulders, my face, and now my right arm and the inside of my nose. Eventually, they run their course and go away. Meanwhile, they bleed like crazy if I pick at them, so I tend to use a lot of Band-Aids to cover them in order to discourage me from doing that sub-consciously.

Anyway, the big news for today is that yesterday I had my second colonoscopy ever. I had the first one a year ago today, almost to the day, which I wrote about here: Colonoscopy Day.

The first colonoscopy I got, a year ago, resulted in the removal of a couple of polyps, including a giant golf ball sized growth / tumor / thingy that revealed the return of my cancer, Mantle-Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. With remission over so soon after an outrageous bunch of chemo and a stem cell transplant, my oncologist recommended we try a new drug that was still in clinical trials, and got me into the study as a test dummy for it. I’ve been on it ever since, and recent tests since then show that I’m in remission again, which is very welcome.

I was instructed to get a repeat colonoscopy a year later, and so here we are.

This time, there were no polyps to remove and definitely no golf ball sized tumors signalling the end of my current remission. Here’s a photo:

Compare that to the photo from last year, and you can see why I’m pretty happy about it:

So, that went well, and I seem to be doing just fine here. As far as I know, I’m still in remission, so I’ve got no complaints about that.

And the doctor who did the colonoscopy said I don’t need another one for 5 years, when I’m 60 years old, so that’s cool too.

My last oncologist quit, resigned, moved her practice, or something like that, so I’m on to the next oncologist, Dr. Connally, and I’m scheduled to see her on 6-2-14 at 1:30 PM, after getting LABS an hour earlier, at 12:30 PM.